Tag: Fandom

In the thirty-first episode of The Pop Culture Lens podcast, Christopher Olson and I welcome friend of the podcast, and Sherlockian, Malynnda Johnson to discuss the indelible nature of famous British detective, Sherlock Holmes. In this episode, Malynnda shares her extensive fan-based knowledge of the classic private investigator as the conversation considers the influence Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had on the world when he created … Continue reading The Pop Cultures Lens on Sherlock

In the twenty-seventh episode of The Pop Culture Lens podcast, Christopher Olson and I welcome back friend of the podcast Joe Belfeuil to discuss Akira Kurosawa’s samurai classic Yojimbo (1961). In this episode, the conversation focuses on the film’s position as a transnational and transcultural pop culture text that acts as a link in a chain connecting different cultures, nations and time periods. Inspired by … Continue reading The Pop Culture Lens on Yojimbo (1961)

I wrote this reflection paper back in 2007 to consider how theories about subjectivation occurs in fandom. Which is to say, how fans of something willingly become identified with that thing they are a fan of. Subjectivation would argue that people passively become something through external ideological forces — that they have no say in becoming that something. I argue that fans have that choice … Continue reading A Subject by Choice: The Agency of Fans

Official Call for Chapter Proposals Title: Colliding Inside the Squared Circle: The Convergent Nature of Professional Wrestling Editors: CarrieLynn D. Reinhard (Dominican University) & Christopher J. Olson (Dominican University) Purpose: The concept of convergence represents one of the most pervasive buzzwords in media studies, but with good reason. In essence, convergence concerns how the boundaries between different technologies, practices, and ideas blur together to create … Continue reading Convergent Wrestling: Call for Chapters

Last fall the call went out from the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo (aka C2E2) for proposed panels for the 2016 convention. I had just been part of a very successful discussion at an academic conference that considered the problems, tensions, fractures that fans have been facing, online and offline, for years. But that was a panel of academics — albeit fan-scholar academics — talking … Continue reading The Dark Side of Fandom

Originally posted on The Fan Studies Network: THE FAN STUDIES NETWORK CONFERENCE 2016 25-26th June 2016 University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK Keynote Speaker: Professor Henry Jenkins (University of Southern California, USA). The fourth annual Fan Studies Network Conference is returning to the University of East Anglia for a two-day programme in June 2016. The conference will continue FSN’s proud tradition of offering an enthusiastic… Continue reading Call for Papers: The Fan Studies Network conference 2016